Centralized Transaction Record Storage

ABSTRACT

A system according to an embodiment comprises a plurality of searchable machine-readable transaction records associated with a plurality of user accounts, the searchable machine-readable transaction records comprising transaction information associated with a plurality of user-merchant transactions, wherein the transaction information is provided by merchant server(s) and is captured and passed by one or more users to the system in response to a determination performed at a respective client device of the user(s) that a webpage comprises transaction information such that an address of the webpage matches an address in a transaction webpage database; one or more processors; and one or more memories adapted to store a plurality of machine-readable instructions which when executed by the processor(s) are adapted to cause the system to provide: a transaction record processing application configured to store the captured transaction information in the searchable machine-readable transaction records associated with the user accounts on the system.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.13/162,472, filed on Jun. 16, 2011, which is a divisional application ofU.S. Pat. No. 8,024,267 (Ser. No. 11/855,408, filed on Sep. 14, 2007),the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference in theirentirety.

BACKGROUND

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention generally relates to online transactions and moreparticularly to the storage of records associated with onlinetransactions.

2. Related Art

Customers routinely search for and purchase products and servicesthrough electronic communications with online merchants over electronicnetworks such as the Internet. In this regard, individual consumers mayfrequently engage in transactions with a variety of merchants through,for example, various merchant websites.

During the course of these transactions, merchants may provide customerswith receipts or other records. It is generally the consumer'sresponsibility to locally store these merchant receipts for futurereference. Unfortunately, different merchants may provide receipts in avariety of faints with little or no consistency in the way informationis presented.

As a result, customers may be forced to implement appropriate receiptstorage using a trial and error approach. Moreover, in order to maintainuseful records, customers must continuously implement such an approachas additional transactions are performed.

Nevertheless, the demands on consumers associated with such approachescan become onerous as the number of user-merchant transactions and thenumber of visited merchant websites increase. Consequently, consumersmay be unable to consistently maintain satisfactory records, especiallyfor purposes of finding transaction details which may be relevant forfuture transactions or activities.

SUMMARY

In accordance with an embodiment of the disclosure, a payment serviceprocessing system comprises: a plurality of searchable machine-readabletransaction records associated with a plurality of user accounts, thesearchable machine-readable transaction records comprising transactioninformation associated with a plurality of user-merchant transactions,wherein the transaction information is provided by one or more merchantservers and is captured and passed by one or more users to the paymentservice processing system in response to a determination performed at arespective client device of the user(s) that a webpage comprisestransaction information such that an address of the webpage matches anaddress in a transaction webpage database. The system also comprises oneor more processors; and one or more memories adapted to store aplurality of machine-readable instructions which when executed by theone or more processors are adapted to cause the system to provide: atransaction record processing application configured to store thecaptured transaction information in the searchable machine-readabletransaction records associated with the user accounts on the paymentservice processing system.

In accordance with another embodiment of the disclosure, amachine-implemented method of managing transaction information, whereinthe method is performed by a payment service processing systemassociated with a payment service provider, comprises: receiving, at thepayment service processing system, transaction information associatedwith a user-merchant transaction, wherein the transaction information isprovided by a merchant server and is captured and passed by a user tothe payment service processing system in response to a determinationperformed at the client device that a webpage comprises transactioninformation such that an address of the webpage matches an address in atransaction webpage database; and storing the captured transactioninformation in a searchable machine-readable transaction recordassociated with a user account on the payment service processing system.

In accordance with another embodiment of the disclosure, amachine-implemented method of processing transaction information,wherein the method is performed by a client device of a user, comprises:receiving, at the client device, transaction information associated witha user-merchant transaction, wherein the transaction information isprovided by a merchant server; determining, at the client device,whether a webpage comprises the transaction information such that if anaddress of the webpage matches an address of a transaction webpagedatabase, then the webpage comprises the transaction information; inresponse to determining that the webpage comprises at least a portion ofthe transaction information, capturing, at the client device, at least aportion of the transaction information associated with the user-merchanttransaction, and passing, by the client device, the transactioninformation over a network in order to facilitate storage of thetransaction information in a transaction record.

These and other features and advantages of the present disclosure willbe more readily apparent from the detailed description of theembodiments set forth below taken in conjunction with the accompanyingdrawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagram of a networked system configured toprovide transaction record storage in accordance with an embodiment ofthe invention.

FIG. 2A illustrates a transaction process in accordance with anembodiment of the invention.

FIG. 2B illustrates a process of determining whether a webpage includestransaction information in accordance with an embodiment of theinvention.

FIG. 3 illustrates a sample user interface displayed to a user duringthe process of FIG. 2A in accordance with an embodiment of theinvention.

FIG. 4 illustrates a process of retrieving transaction records inaccordance with an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 5 illustrates a sample user interface displayed to a user duringthe process of FIG. 4 in accordance with an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 6 illustrates a process of retrieving warranty information inaccordance with an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 7 illustrates a sample user interface displayed to a user duringthe process of FIG. 6 in accordance with an embodiment of the invention.

Like element numbers in different figures represent the same or similarelements.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In accordance with various embodiments disclosed herein, user onlinetransaction records comprising transaction information associated withvarious user-merchant transactions can be conveniently stored by apayment service provider and subsequently reviewed by a user. Forexample, in one embodiment, transaction information such as receipts fora plurality of different merchants may be aggregated by a paymentservice provider, thereby allowing a user to search the information. Inanother embodiment, the transaction information may includeuser-selectable links to permit users to purchase products or services(i.e., items) referenced by the transaction records.

In yet another embodiment, the transaction information may include, forexample, various terms and conditions (e.g., warranty information,return policies, price guarantees, and/or other information) associatedwith items purchased by users. In another embodiment, users may requestadditional services (e.g., warranty services) through a user interfacefacilitated by the payment service provider.

Referring now to the drawings wherein the showings are for purposes ofillustrating embodiments of the present invention only, and not forpurposes of limiting the same, FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagram of anetworked system 100 configured to provide transaction record storage inaccordance with an embodiment of the invention. As shown, system 100includes a client device 110, a merchant server 140, a warrantymanagement server 135, and a payment service provider server 170 incommunication over a network 160.

Client device 110, warranty management server 135, merchant server 140,and payment service provider server 170 may each include one or moreprocessors, memories, and other appropriate components for executinginstructions such as program code and/or data stored on one or morecomputer readable mediums to implement the various applications, data,and steps described herein. For example, such instructions may be storedin one or more computer readable mediums such as memories or datastorage devices internal to the servers, external to the servers, and/oraccessible by the servers over network 160.

Network 160 may be implemented as a single network or a combination ofmultiple networks. For example, in various embodiments, network 160 mayinclude the Internet or one or more intranets, landline networks,wireless networks, and/or other appropriate types of networks.

Client device 110 may be implemented using any appropriate combinationof hardware and/or software configured for wired and/or wirelesscommunication over network 160. For example, in one embodiment, clientdevice 110 may be implemented as a personal computer of a user 105(e.g., a customer) in communication with the Internet. In otherembodiments, client 110 may be implemented as a wireless telephone,personal digital assistant (PDA), notebook computer, and/or other typesof computing devices.

As shown, client device 110 may include one or more browser applications115 which may be used, for example, to provide a convenient interface topermit user 105 to browse information available over network 160. Forexample, in one embodiment, browser application 115 may be implementedas a web browser configured to view webpages or other content availableover the Internet.

Client device 110 may also include one or more toolbar applications 120which may be used, for example, to provide client-side processing forperforming desired tasks in response to operations selected by user 105.In one embodiment, toolbar application 120 may display a user interfacein connection with browser application 115. In this regard, toolbarapplication 120 may be configured to receive input commands from user105 instructing client device 110 to capture transaction informationdisplayed by browser application 115, flag webpages containingtransaction information, or perform other tasks.

Client device 110 may also include a parser application 121 and atransaction detection application 123 that may be used to processwebpages displayed by browser application 115. Parser application 121may be implemented to parse the webpages to identify various dataincluded in the webpages. Transaction detection application 123 mayprocess the data identified by parser application 121 (for example, byapplying predetermined heuristics) to ascertain various characteristicsof the webpages that may be associated with transaction information. Forexample, in one embodiment, such heuristics may include the presence ofdollar amounts, shipping information, or other information that may beassociated with transactions performed by user 105 over network 160.Accordingly, by parsing webpages with parser application 121 and furtherprocessing the parsed data with transaction detection application 123,client device 110 may identify whether a given webpage includestransaction information associated, for example, with one or moretransactions performed by user 105 over network 160.

Client device 110 may further include other applications 125 as may bedesired in particular embodiments to provide desired features to clientdevice 110. For example, in various embodiments, such other applications125 may include security applications for implementing client-sidesecurity features, programmatic client applications for interfacing withappropriate application programming interfaces (APIs) over network 160,or other types of applications.

As also shown in FIG. 1, client device 110 includes one or more useridentifiers 130 which may be implemented, for example, as operatingsystem registry entries, cookies associated with browser application115, identifiers associated with hardware of client device 110, or otherappropriate identifiers. In one embodiment, user identifier 130 may beused by a payment service provider to associate user 105 with aparticular account maintained by the payment service provider as furtherdescribed herein.

Client device 110 may optionally include a local transaction webpagedatabase 133 that identifies various webpages previously determined tobe associated with transaction information. For example, in oneembodiment, local transaction webpage database 133 may include a list ofaddresses (for example, uniform resource identifiers (URLs)) or domainsthat may be associated with webpages of merchant server 140 or paymentservice provider server 170. In this regard, transaction detectionapplication 123 may be implemented to compare an address associated witha given webpage received by browser application 115 to entries in localtransaction webpage database 133 to identify webpages that includetransaction information.

Merchant server 140 may be maintained, for example, by an onlinemerchant offering various products and/or services in exchange forpayment to be received over network 160. In this regard, merchant server140 includes a products/services database 145 identifying availableproducts and/or services which may be made available for viewing andpurchase by user 105. Accordingly, merchant server 140 also includes amarketplace application 150 which may be configured to serve informationover network 160 to browser 115 of client 110. For example, in oneembodiment, user 105 may interact with marketplace application 150through browser application 115 over network 160 in order to search andview various items identified in products/services database 145.

Merchant server 140 also includes a checkout application 155 which maybe configured to facilitate the purchase by user 105 of items identifiedby marketplace application 150. In this regard, checkout application 155may be configured to accept payment information from user 105 and/orfrom payment service provider server 170 over network 160.

Warranty management server 135 includes a warranty database 165 whichmay be configured to store warranty information associated with variousitems identified by products/services database 145 of merchant server140. For example, in one embodiment, warranty database 165 may identifyparticular time periods associated with various warranties of particularitems. Warranty management server 135 may be implemented to serverelevant warranty information in response to warranty informationrequests by payment server provider server 170 as further describedherein. In various embodiments, warranty management server 135 may beoperated, for example, by a merchant, a payment service provider, awarranty provider, or other appropriate entities.

Payment service provider server 170 may be maintained, for example, byan online payment service provider which may provide payment on behalfof user 105 to the operator of merchant server 140. In this regard,payment service provider server 170 includes one or more paymentapplications 175 which may be configured to interact with client device110 and/or merchant server 140 over network 160 to facilitate thepurchase of items by user 105 from merchant server 140. In oneembodiment, payment service provider server 170 may be provided byPayPal, Inc.

Payment service provider server 170 also maintains a plurality of useraccounts 180, each of which may include account information 185associated with individual users. For example, in one embodiment,account information 185 may include private financial information ofuser 105 such as account numbers, passwords, credit card information,bank information, or other financial information which may be used tofacilitate online transactions by user 105. Advantageously, paymentapplication 175 may be configured to interact with merchant server 140on behalf of user 105 during a transaction with checkout application 155without requiring user 105 to provide account information 185 tomerchant server 170.

Payment service provider server 170 further maintains a plurality oftransaction records 195 which are associated with individual useraccounts 180. As further described herein, transaction records 195 maybe implemented to store transaction information associated withparticular online transactions between user 105 and merchant server 140(i.e., user-merchant transactions). Accordingly, payment serviceprovider server 170 can provide centralized storage of transactioninformation.

Payment service provider server 170 also provides a transaction recordprocessing application 190 which may be configured to serve particulartransaction records 195 to client device 110 in response to userrequests. Transaction record processing application 190 may further beconfigured to serve warranty information received from warrantymanagement server 135 in response to user requests.

Payment service provider server 170 may optionally include a mastertransaction webpage database 197 that identifies various webpages asbeing associated with transaction information as similarly describedabove with regard to local transaction webpage database 133. In thisregard, transaction detection application 123 of client device 110 maybe implemented to send requests to payment service provider 170 tocompare an address associated with a given webpage to entries in mastertransaction webpage database 197 to identify webpages that includetransaction information.

FIG. 2A illustrates a transaction process in accordance with anembodiment of the invention. In initial step 210, it is assumed thatuser 105 has previously registered with payment service provider server170 to open a user account 180. In this regard, it will be appreciatedthat user 105 may have previously provided account information 185 topayment service provider server 170 over network 160 through, forexample, a secure connection between client device 110 and paymentservice provider server 170.

As a result of such previous registration, client device 110 stores auser identifier 130 that may be used to identify the particular user 105as having a user account 180 maintained by payment service providerserver 170. As previously described, user identifier 130 may beimplemented, for example, as one or more cookies, operating systemregistry entries, hardware identifiers, or other types of identifiers.

In step 215, user 105 accesses an online marketplace provided bymerchant server 140. For example, in one embodiment, user 105 may usebrowser application 115 to access a webpage provided by marketplaceapplication 150 of merchant server 140. In this regard, marketplaceapplication 150 may be configured to display various items identified inproducts/services database 145. Also in step 215, user 105 mayoptionally select such items for purchase through interaction betweenbrowser application 115 and checkout application 155.

Then, in step 220, user 105 engages in a transaction with merchantserver 140 to purchase various items selected during previous step 215.In this regard, user 105 may authorize an operator of payment serviceprovider server 170 to provide relevant financial information (e.g.,account information 185 from one of user accounts 180 associated withuser 105) for executing such transactions on behalf of user 105. In oneembodiment, client device 110 may interact with merchant server 140during step 220. In another embodiment, payment service provider server170 may interact with merchant server 140 on behalf of client device 110and user 105 during step 220.

In step 225, merchant server 140 provides information associated withthe transaction performed in previous step 220. For example, in oneembodiment, merchant server 140 may provide a webpage includingtransaction details to client device 110 which may be viewed by user 105through browser application 115. In another embodiment, merchant server140 may provide an email message to client device 110 identifying suchtransaction details. In one embodiment, the transaction informationprovided by merchant server 140 in step 225 may include program code,such as JavaScript™ code embedded in a webpage, that is executable byclient device 110.

FIG. 3 illustrates a sample user interface 300 that may be displayed touser 105 on client device 110 by browser application 115 for viewingtransaction information provided in step 225. In this regard, userinterface 300 includes a browser window 310 provided by browserapplication 115 to display a dynamically created webpage. As shown,browser window 310 includes various product descriptions 320 provided bymarketplace application 150 which correspond to various productspurchased by user 105 during previous step 220.

Returning to FIG. 2A, in step 230, merchant server 140 or client device110 captures the transaction information provided in step 225. Forexample, in one embodiment, merchant server 140 may capture thetransaction information locally in HTML, XML, or another text-basedformat. In another embodiment, merchant server 140 may capture a graphicimage of the transaction record. Similarly, in other embodiments,toolbar application 120 or other applications 125 of client device 110may capture the transaction information locally in HTML, XML, or anothertext-based format, or may capture a graphic image of the transactioninformation. In one embodiment, the capturing may be performed by clientdevice 110 in response to one or more commands initiated by user 105.Such commands may include, for example, user 105 selecting anappropriate button 330 displayed in user interface 300 by toolbarapplication 120. In another embodiment, such capturing may be performedby client device 110 without requiring interaction by user 105. In oneembodiment, client device 110 may perform the process of FIG. 2B duringstep 230 as further described herein.

In various embodiments, the transaction information captured in step 230may include, for example, line item details for particular itemspurchased in the transaction of step 220, links to one or more webpagesmaintained by merchant server 140 that are associated with particularpurchased items, personal or financial information of user 105, useridentifier 130, identification information of a particular merchant,merchant policy terms (e.g., individual merchant return policies),shipping information, terms and conditions previously described herein,or other information.

Following step 230, merchant server 140 or client device 110 passes thecaptured transaction information to payment service provider server 170(step 235). For example, if transaction information is captured andpassed by merchant server 140, such information may be passed frommerchant server 140 to payment service provider server 170 over network160 in response to the capturing performed in step 230 by merchantserver 140.

In another example, if transaction information is captured and passed byclient device 110, such information may be passed from client device 110to payment service provider server 170 over network 160 in response tothe capturing performed in step 230 by client device 110. As discussed,the transaction information provided by merchant server 140 in previousstep 225 may include program code that is executable by client device110. Such code may be executed by client device 110 in step 235 to causeclient device 110 to pass transaction information to payment serviceprovider server 170.

In another example, if transaction information is captured and passed byclient device 110, such information may be passed from client device 110to payment service provider server 170 over network 160 using a printerdriver (e.g., maintained by client device 110 as one of otherapplications 125). In this regard, such a printer driver may beconfigured to send transaction information (e.g., transactioninformation captured in step 230 of FIG. 2A) to payment service providerserver 170 over network 160 in response to user 105 selecting button 330of user interface 300 shown in FIG. 3.

In step 240, payment service provider server 170 stores the capturedtransaction information as one of transaction records 195 associatedwith the particular user account 180 of user 105.

It will be appreciated that by performing the process of FIG. 2A for aplurality of transactions by user 105 with merchant server 140 and/orother merchants, a plurality of transaction records 195 may be stored bypayment service provider server 170 and associated with an appropriateuser account 180 associated with user 180. Such transaction records 195may be subsequently accessed by user 105 to facilitate additionaloperations as further described herein.

FIG. 2B illustrates a process of determining whether a webpage includestransaction information in accordance with an embodiment of theinvention. As previously discussed, the process of FIG. 2B may beperformed by client device 110 during step 230 of FIG. 2A.

In step 250, transaction detection application 123 compares an address(e.g., a URI or other appropriate identifier) of a webpage (e.g., awebpage provided to client device 110 during earlier step 225) to localtransaction webpage database 133 or master transaction webpage database197. If a matching address is found (step 255), then transactiondetection application 123 will determine that the webpage includestransaction information (step 290). Following step 290, client device110 captures the transaction information by, for example, capturing arecord of the webpage in any appropriate manner as previously discussed.

If a match is not found in step 255, then the process of FIG. 2Bcontinues to step 260. In step 260, parser application 121 parses thewebpage to identify data included in the webpage. In step 263,transaction detection application 123 applies heuristics to the dataidentified in previous step 260 in order to ascertain variouscharacteristics of the webpages that may be associated with transactioninformation as previously discussed. If the processing performed in step263 detects that the webpage likely includes transaction information(step 265), then the process of FIG. 2B continues to step 290 aspreviously discussed. If no transaction information is detected in step265, then steps 260, 263, and/or 265 may be optionally repeated as manytimes as desired to further attempt to detect transaction information.In one embodiment, transaction detection application 123 may applydifferent heuristics during repeated iterations of step 263.

In step 275, transaction detection application 123 determines that thecurrently processed webpage likely does not include transactioninformation. In step 280, user 105 may optionally flag the webpage (forexample, by selecting an appropriate button 340 displayed in userinterface 300 by toolbar application 120 as shown in FIG. 3) to indicatethat user 105 believes the webpage does indeed include transactioninformation. In response to step 280, transaction detection application123 may optionally update local transaction webpage database 133 toinclude an address associated with the current webpage (step 285).Alternatively in step 285, transaction detection application 123 mayinform payment service provider server 170 of the user's 105 flagging ofthe current webpage. In this case, payment service provider server 170may optionally update master transaction webpage database 197 to includean address associated with the current webpage. Following step 285, theprocess of FIG. 2B may optionally continue to step 295 previouslydiscussed above.

FIG. 4 illustrates a process of retrieving transaction records 195 inaccordance with an embodiment of the invention. The process of FIG. 4may be performed following the process of FIG. 2A.

In step 410, user 105 logs in to payment service provider server 170 inorder to authenticate user 105 for accessing the particular transactionrecords 195 associated with one of user accounts 180. For example, inone embodiment, user 105 may interact with payment service providerserver 170 through an appropriate browser interface provided by browserapplication 115.

In response to a successful log in, payment service provider server 170may permit user 105 to enter one or more search terms for searching thecontents of transaction records 195 (step 420). In response to a searchrequest entered by user 105, payment service provider server 170retrieves and serves any of transaction records 195 matching the searchterms to client device 110 for display to user 105 by browserapplication 115 (step 430).

For example, FIG. 5 illustrates a sample user interface 500 that may bedisplayed to user 105 on client device 110 by browser application 115for viewing transaction record search results provided in step 430. Inthis regard, user interface 500 includes a search window 510 into whichuser 105 may enter desired search terms. A user-operable button 520 isalso provided which may cause transaction record processing application190 to search transaction records 195 for the terms entered in searchwindow 510.

In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 5, transaction record processingapplication 190 has returned two particular transaction records 530 and550 associated with the search term “ABC” entered in search window 510.In this regard, it will be appreciated that transaction records 530 and550 each include various transaction information 540 and 560,respectively, associated with different transactions executed by user105 in relation to a particular merchant (“Merchant ABC”). Accordingly,it will be appreciated that in this embodiment merchant server 140 maybe maintained by Merchant ABC. However, it will also be appreciated thata plurality of merchant servers 140 associated with different merchantsmay also be provided as part of system 100.

Advantageously, user interface 500 also includes a plurality ofuser-selectable reorder buttons 570 to permit user 105 to selectivelyre-purchase particular items identified in transaction records 530 and550. In this regard, it will be appreciated that the transactioninformation previously provided to payment service provider server 170(e.g., in step 235 of FIG. 2A) may include, for example, line itemdetails for particular items purchased in the transaction, links to oneor more webpages maintained by merchant server 140 that are associatedwith particular purchased items, personal or financial information ofuser 105, user identifier 130, identification information of aparticular merchant, or other information.

Accordingly, each of reorder buttons 570 may be associated withparticular features provided by payment service provider server 170. Inone embodiment, payment application 175 may be configured to executeanother transaction with checkout application 155 of merchant server 140to re-purchase a particular item listed in transaction records 530 or550. In this regard, it will be appreciated that payment application 155may use account information 185 and transaction records 195 to link tomerchant server 140 and provide relevant information to merchant server140 in order to perform such a transaction in response to a selection ofone of reorder buttons 570 by user 105.

In another embodiment, payment service provider server 170 may beimplemented to redirect browser application 115 of client device 110 toa webpage associated with a particular item listed in transactionrecords 530 or 550. In this regard, it will be appreciated that paymentservice provider server 170 may use transaction records 195 to provide arelevant link to a webpage associated with the item in response to auser's selection of one of reorder buttons 570. It will be appreciatedthat the above-identified features associated with reorder buttons 570may be particularly useful to customers that frequently repurchaseitems, such as refills of consumable office supplies (e.g., paper orprinter cartridges), food, medication, or other items to be replenished.

Returning to FIG. 4, in step 440, user 105 selects one of reorderbuttons 570 of user interface 500. In one embodiment, the following step450 may be performed by payment application 175 executing anothertransaction with checkout application 155 of merchant server 140 tore-purchase the particular item associated with the selected reorderbutton 570. It will be appreciated that in this embodiment,previously-described steps 225 through 240 of FIG. 2A may be performedto provide payment service provider 170 with transaction information(e.g., to be stored by payment service provider server 170 as anadditional transaction record 195) associated with the new transactionperformed in step 450.

In another embodiment, step 450 may be performed by payment serviceprovider server 170 redirecting browser application 115 of client device110 to a webpage associated with the particular item associated with theselected reorder button 570. In this embodiment, steps 225 through 240of FIG. 2A may be performed to provide payment service provider 170 withtransaction information associated with the new transaction performed instep 450.

FIG. 6 illustrates a process of retrieving warranty information inaccordance with an embodiment of the invention. In step 610, user 105logs in to payment service provider server 170 as previously describedwith regard to step 410 of FIG. 4. Then, in step 620, user 105 maysearch the contents of transaction records 195 as previously describedwith regard to step 420 of FIG. 4. In response to a search requestentered by user 105, payment service provider server 170 identifies anyitems in transaction records 195 matching the search terms (step 630).

Payment service provider server 170 then passes a request to warrantymanagement server 135 requesting warranty information corresponding tothe matching items (step 640). As previously described, warrantymanagement server 135 includes a warranty database 165 which may beconfigured to store warranty information associated with various itemsidentified by products/services database 145 of merchant server 140.Accordingly, in step 650, warranty management server 135 retrieves anyavailable warranty information concerning the requested items fromwarranty database 165. Also in step 650, warranty management server 135passes such warranty information to payment service provider 170. Forexample, in one embodiment, such warranty information may identify anassociation between the requested item and a standard warranty period(e.g., ninety days, one year, or other periods).

In step 660, payment service provider server 170 calculates the warrantyexpiration date associated with the requested item. Because the purchasedate of the item may be stored by payment service provider server 170 aspart of transaction records 195, payment service provider server 170 canproceed to calculate the warranty expiration date using the purchasedate and the warranty information received from warranty managementserver 135.

In step 670, payment service provider server 170 serves the warrantyexpiration date to client device 110 for display to user 105 by, forexample, browser application 115. For example, FIG. 7 illustrates asample user interface 700 that may be displayed to user 105 on clientdevice 110 by browser application 115 for viewing warranty informationduring step 660. In this regard, user interface 700 includes a searchwindow 710 into which user 105 may enter desired search terms. Auser-operable button 720 is also provided which may cause transactionrecord processing application 190 to search transaction records 195 forthe terms entered in search window 710, request and retrievecorresponding warranty information, and display such information in awindow 730.

In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 7, transaction record processingapplication 190 has returned warranty information 740 for one previouslypurchased item associated with the search term “MP3” entered in searchwindow 710. In this regard, it will be appreciated that warrantyinformation 740 identifies the item purchased and its purchase date,each of which may be obtained from one of transaction records 195 (e.g.,transaction record 550 previously described with regard to FIGS. 4 and5).

In this case, warranty management server 135 has retrieved warrantyinformation corresponding to the displayed “MP3 PLAYER” item.Specifically, warranty management server 135 has found that the item isassociated with a one year warranty period. Accordingly, as shown inFIG. 7, the warranty expiration date has been calculated as occurringone year from the purchase date.

As also shown in FIG. 7, user interface 700 may further includeuser-selectable buttons 750 and 760 which may be implemented to permituser 105 to submit a warranty claim or purchase a warranty extension,respectively. In this regard, it will be appreciated that paymentservice provider server 170 may be configured to interact with anappropriate warranty management provider through, for example, warrantymanagement server 135, merchant server 140, or other servers overnetwork 160 which may be configured to facilitate such features.Returning to FIG. 6, in optional step 680, user 105 may choose to submita warranty claim or purchase a warranty extension as described abovewith regard to buttons 750 and 760.

Although FIGS. 6-7, warranty management server 135, and warrantydatabase 165 have been described with respect to providing warrantyinformation, such portions of the present disclosure may optionally beadapted to service other types of information associated with particularitems purchased by user 105 in previous transactions with merchantserver 140. For example, server 135 may be implemented to providepayment service provider server 170 with various terms and conditionsassociated with items identified in transaction records 195 as suchinformation may be desired in particular implementations.

In view of the present disclosure, it will be appreciated that variousmethods and systems have been described for storing, retrieving, andutilizing transaction records associated with online transactions.Advantageously, transaction records for a plurality of differentmerchants may be aggregated by a payment service provider in acentralized manner, thereby allowing a user to search the records. Suchtransaction records may be associated with user-selectable links topermit users to reorder previously purchased items, obtain warrantyinformation, and request warranty services for items referenced by thetransaction records. The transaction records may also be used fortracking chargebacks associated with particular merchants and fordispute resolution.

Advantageously, payment service providers may leverage theabove-described integrated warranty features to motivate additionalpurchases by users. For example, by providing users with selectablelinks for purchasing warranty extensions, payment service providers mayoffer their services to facilitate such transactions. In addition,payment service providers may offer automatic warranty extensions tousers for items purchased using their services. The availability of suchfeatures may also be used by payment service providers to encourageadditional merchants to accept payment from such payment serviceproviders.

Where applicable, various embodiments provided by the present disclosurecan be implemented using hardware, software, or combinations of hardwareand software. Also where applicable, the various hardware componentsand/or software components set forth herein can be combined intocomposite components comprising software, hardware, and/or both withoutdeparting from the spirit of the present disclosure. Where applicable,the various hardware components and/or software components set forthherein can be separated into sub-components comprising software,hardware, or both without departing from the spirit of the presentdisclosure. In addition, where applicable, it is contemplated thatsoftware components can be implemented as hardware components, andvice-versa.

Software in accordance with the present disclosure, such as program codeand/or data, can be stored on one or more computer readable mediums. Itis also contemplated that software identified herein can be implementedusing one or more general purpose or specific purpose computers and/orcomputer systems, networked and/or otherwise. Where applicable, theordering of various steps described herein can be changed, combined intocomposite steps, and/or separated into sub-steps to provide featuresdescribed herein.

The foregoing disclosure is not intended to limit the present inventionto the precise forms or particular fields of use disclosed. It iscontemplated that various alternate embodiments and/or modifications tothe present invention, whether explicitly described or implied herein,are possible in light of the disclosure.

Having thus described embodiments of the invention, persons of ordinaryskill in the art will recognize that changes may be made in form anddetail without departing from the scope of the invention. Thus theinvention is limited only by the claims.

1. A payment service processing system comprising: a plurality of searchable machine-readable transaction records associated with a plurality of user accounts, the searchable machine-readable transaction records comprising transaction information associated with a plurality of user-merchant transactions, wherein the transaction information is provided by one or more merchant servers and is captured and passed by one or more users to the payment service processing system in response to a determination performed at a respective client device of the user(s) that a webpage comprises transaction information such that an address of the webpage matches an address in a transaction webpage database; one or more processors; and one or more memories adapted to store a plurality of machine-readable instructions which when executed by the one or more processors are adapted to cause the system to provide: a transaction record processing application configured to store the captured transaction information in the searchable machine-readable transaction records associated with the user accounts on the payment service processing system.
 2. The system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of machine-readable instructions are adapted to further cause the system to allow the user(s) to search the contents of the searchable machine-readable transaction records by entering one or more search terms.
 3. The system of claim 1, wherein the transaction information provided by the merchant server(s) further comprises program code embedded in the webpage, the program code being executable by the respective client device.
 4. The system of claim 1, wherein the transaction information is provided by the merchant server(s) in an email message to the respective client device.
 5. The system of claim 1, wherein the transaction information is captured by the client device locally in a text-based format, or in a graphic image of the transaction information.
 6. The system of claim 1, wherein the transaction information is captured and passed by a printer driver of the client device.
 7. A machine-implemented method of managing transaction information, wherein the method is performed by a payment service processing system associated with a payment service provider, the method comprising: receiving, at the payment service processing system, transaction information associated with a user-merchant transaction, wherein the transaction information is provided by a merchant server and is captured and passed by a user to the payment service processing system in response to a determination performed at the client device that a webpage comprises transaction information such that an address of the webpage matches an address in a transaction webpage database; and storing the captured transaction information in a searchable machine-readable transaction record associated with a user account on the payment service processing system.
 8. The method of claim 7, further comprising allowing the user to search contents of the searchable machine-readable transaction record by entering one or more search terms.
 9. The method of claim 7, wherein the transaction information provided by the merchant server further comprises program code embedded in the webpage, the program code being executable by the client device.
 10. The method of claim 7, wherein the transaction information is provided by the merchant server in an email message to the client device.
 11. The method of claim 7, wherein the transaction information is captured by the client device locally in a text-based format, or in a graphic image of the transaction information associated with the user-merchant transaction.
 12. The method of claim 7, wherein the transaction information is captured by the client device locally in HTML or XML format.
 13. The method of claim 7, wherein the transaction information is captured and passed by a printer driver of the client device.
 14. A machine-implemented method of processing transaction information, wherein the method is performed by a client device of a user, the method comprising: receiving, at the client device, transaction information associated with a user-merchant transaction, wherein the transaction information is provided by a merchant server; determining, at the client device, whether a webpage comprises the transaction information such that if an address of the webpage matches an address of a transaction webpage database, then the webpage comprises the transaction information; in response to determining that the webpage comprises at least a portion of the transaction information, capturing, at the client device, at least a portion of the transaction information associated with the user-merchant transaction, and passing, by the client device, the transaction information over a network in order to facilitate storage of the transaction information in a transaction record.
 15. The method of claim 14, further comprising: determining, by the client device, that the webpage address does not match an address of the transaction webpage database; parsing the webpage to identify data included in the webpage; applying heuristics to the identified data to ascertain whether the webpage comprises the transaction information; and performing the capturing and passing upon ascertaining that the webpage comprises the transaction information.
 16. The method of claim 14, further comprising allowing the user to search contents of the searchable machine-readable transaction record by entering one or more search terms.
 17. The method of claim 14, wherein the transaction information provided by the merchant server further comprises program code embedded in the webpage, the program code being executable by the client device.
 18. The method of claim 14, wherein the transaction information is provided by the merchant server in an email message to the client device.
 19. The method of claim 14, wherein the transaction information is captured by the client device locally in a text-based format, or in a graphic image of the transaction information associated with the user-merchant transaction.
 20. The method of claim 14, wherein the transaction information is captured and passed by a printer driver of the client device. 